Hackers Post Data From LAUSD Ransomware Breach After District Refuses To Pay Ransom
A group of hackers has released sensitive data stolen from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s online systems during the Labor Day weekend ransomware attack, district officials confirmed Sunday.
The development comes just days after LAUSD officials confirmed that cyberattackers had demanded the school district pay a ransom to prevent the data’s exposure. LAUSD leaders refused.
What Data Do The Attackers Have?
The scope of the stolen data is unclear. LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho issued a statement on Twitter saying that experts with the district and law enforcement were “analyzing the full extent of this data release.”
LAist has reviewed screenshots from the website of the ransomware gang Vice Society, which multiple tech journalists have reported is responsible for the attack. On the page displaying directories of data the group allegedly stole, one folder is labeled “Secret Confidential.” Another is labeled “ssn” — apparently short for “Social Security number.”
One screenshot shows other more innocuously named file directories that appear to be part of the release: “Contractor Docs,” “Document Control Group,” “DIARY REQUEST MASTER LOG,” and “Passport.”
LAUSD’s facilities system — used for managing building projects and paying contractors — was hardest hit by the September ransomware attack, and is still largely inoperable. Carvalho has confirmed data from that system was stolen.
How Concerned Should Teachers, Students And Parents Be?
Previously, Carvalho has said LAUSD’s employee payroll system — which contains employee Social Security numbers — was untouched.
The superintendent has also said that hackers managed to “touch” systems containing sensitive data on students; he’s expressed cautious optimism that data from those systems wasn’t stolen, but it’s difficult to rule that possibility out definitively.
Cybersecurity experts…
